My web crawler gets stuck on the Dell website. Is it fixable?

Question

First off, I'm new to coding and Python. This is the first project that I came up with to try. When I run this code there are no errors and I get to the point of opening the Dell website, inputting the service tag and pressing the enter key. At that point the Dell website gives me a pop up that says "Please wait while we validate this action. Once validated, please submit your request again." and gives a 30 second countdown.

import openpyxl as xl
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys

wb = xl.load_workbook('/home/user/Code/learning/inventory.xlsx')
sheet = wb['Sheet1']

for row in range(2, sheet.max_row + 1):
    service_tag_cell = sheet.cell(row, 4).value
    warranty_cell: str
    warranty_cell = sheet.cell(row, 5).value
    if service_tag_cell != '': # and warranty_cell == '':
        driver = webdriver.Firefox()
        driver.get('https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us')

            # Find the search box, enter the service tag number and press the enter key
        driver.find_element_by_id('inpEntrySelection').send_keys(service_tag_cell + Keys.ENTER)
        
            # Find warranty field
        warranty_date = driver.find_element_by_class_name('warrantyExpiringLabel')
        
        warranty_cell = warranty_date.value_of_css_property
        driver.close()
    sheet.cell(row, 5).value = warranty_cell

wb.save('inventory2.xlsx')

I've tried searching google to understand what prompts this message from Dell. I get the sense it just doesn't want bots like mine searching their website. But is the message a result of my poor implementation that could be corrected? Or is my goal of taking a spreadsheet of service tags and returning the expiration date dead in water?

Answer 1

If they're using methods of detected automated actions then you'll be playing cat-and-mouse.

I can suggest that you try setting a random User-Agent with a library like Random User Agents:

from random_user_agent.user_agent import UserAgent
from random_user_agent.params import SoftwareName

user_agent_rotator = UserAgent(software_names=[SoftwareName.CHROME.value], limit=100)
user_agent = user_agent_rotator.get_random_user_agent()

options.add_argument(f'user-agent={user_agent}')
driver = webdriver.Chrome(chrome_options=options)

But if that doesn't work, there's plenty of other ways in which Selenium can be detected. This and This have good information that may helpful.